A typical scratch-off game card for a bingo game has a game area with a plurality of pre-printed game letters and a player area with some pre-assigned letters. The game letters in the game area are usually visible to the player, while the pre-assigned letters in the player area are usually covered by an opaque removable layer. A player purchases a scratch-off bingo game card and removes the opaque removable layer to reveal the pre-assigned letters. When the player identifies a pre-assigned letter in the player area that matches a game letter from the game area, the player marks the game letter to identify it as a matched letter. The player can mark a game letter with a pen or pencil.
However, to make marking easier for the players, the game letters are usually covered by a layer of removable material and on the top of the layer the same set of game letters are printed. The player removes the layer of removable material, generally a latex layer, by using his fingernail or a coin. The removal of the latex layer on the top of a game letter provides an indication that the game letter has been “called.” The player actually can feel the latex layer when rubbing his fingernail over the lottery game card. When rubbed by a coin or fingernail, a small amount of the latex layer breaks into particles and collapses from the layer, thus revealing the pre-printed game letter below.
The latex layer is usually placed with a two-step process. The first step places an opaque layer covering the game indicia and the second step prints the original game indicia on the top of the opaque layer. This process presents a latent problem caused when a different set of game indicia is placed on the top of the original game indicia by mistake. The mistake will typically not be detected until the scratch-off game card is purchased and used by a player.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a scratch-off lottery game card that allows player to mark indicia yet minimize the risk of printing mistakes and it is to such method the present application is primarily directed.